More worker-owned businesses are sprouting

Author: SG&F Law

A growing number of employers are devising an innovative remedy for wage stagnation and income inequality: turning their workers into owners.

Last month, top Greek yogurt maker Chobani cast a national spotlight on the trend by announcing that the company’s 2,000 full-time employees will receive shares worth up to 10% of the company’s value when it goes public or is sold.

Yet the two most prominent ways to give workers significant stakes — employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and worker cooperatives — go quite a bit further, handing as much as 100% of a company to its employees.